W1/HA-010 Mt Kearsarge

 The forecast for Christmas eve was looking decent, certainly better than Christmas, so my family decided to go for a hike. Burn off a few of the calories we'd eat the next day, or something like that. We chose to go to Mt Kearsarge, a prominent peak in central NH.

Entrance to the state park.

We hiked in from the north side, which is Winslow State Park. The road to the parking lot is not plowed and gated in the winter, but parking is allowed on the road at the bottom. We parked here, put on our microspikes, and set off up the road.

Heading up the road.

The hike up the road is about a mile to the summer parking lot and trailhead. There were a lot of signs encouraging people to reserve a time, and I can see how the park could get very busy in the summer. We decided to go up the Winslow Trail. I went ahead so I could get set up and operate and not force everyone else to stand around in the cold.

Heading up.

The trail was very icy, and I'm not sure I could have gotten up without the spikes. It must be wet in the summer if there's that much ice. I passed a big group on the way up, with a dog who seemed bored by their slow pace.

A little below the summit.

Near the summit the forest opens up and the trees are all short conifers. The summit has a fire tower and communications tower, and is very open. I looked around and took some pictures, but there was a breeze and it had started snowing lightly, so I turned around to set up in the trees out of the wind.

Excellent views from the summit. In the fall, this must be beautiful.

I set up just above the trail junction below the summit. There was a clearing to the side that I could run my antenna out to and have it out of the way. I started on 20m, hoping to get some good DX, but only got two French stations. However, there was a good size pileup of Americans. Eventually I got cold, but people were still coming back, so I worked them. Before I froze to death, the calls stopped, and I packed up.

Sunny antenna on a gray day.

We took the other trail, the Barlow Trail, back to the parking lot. This trail seemed less steep going down, but still had some icy sections. The road walk back to the gate was much quicker going down. Back at the car we cranked up the heat for the drive back home, happy with our hike.

Trailhead: Winslow State Park. In the winter, park at the gate and walk up.
Website: SOTA Site. Winslow State Park.
Maps: AA6XA SOTA Hikes map.
Route: Take one of the two trails up to the summit.
Red Tape: None. Consider making a reservation in the spring/summer/fall if it is a busy day.
Video: No footage shot.